Reviving the family practice

Across the U.S., large healthcare systems and private equity firms have been buying up private medical practices to the point that most family doctors no longer work for themselves. And when profit becomes the motive, the result can be higher costs, more bureaucracy, and reduced quality of care.

But there is one local practice bringing back something many of us remember from just a few years ago: the private, physician-owned family practice.

HealthExpress Urgent Care and Primary Care, owned by the local doctors who actually practice there, is dedicated to providing quality, affordable care with a human touch. You won’t find their facilities in large office buildings. Instead, they’re located in convenient shopping centers with parking right at the door.

Inside HealthExpress, no one sits behind a sliding glass window. You’re greeted at an open counter in a bright, spacious waiting area. There’s no clipboard or pen on a string. That’s because you can register online ahead of time or simply scan the QR code in the lobby.

“Our vision is to create a more open and friendly experience,” explains Abe Ali, MD, a Strongsville native and partner at HealthExpress. “We’re reviving the family care private practice and making it simple, easy and affordable, without sacrificing quality of care. Here, you know your nurse, you know your doctor, and when you get a call, it’s often from your doctor, not someone you’ve never met.”

And you don’t have to wait months for an appointment. HealthExpress is faster than that.

A lot faster.

“Depending on when you call, you’re typically going to get a same-day or next-day appointment for both in-office and telehealth visits,” Dr. Ali says. “Asking a patient to wait weeks or months is incomprehensible to us.”

Primary Care and Urgent Care—for Everyone

As a family practice, HealthExpress provides a wide range of care, from pediatrics to geriatrics. Patients visit for various reasons, including sore throats, fevers, cuts, headaches, nausea, allergic reactions, sprains, fractures, incisions and drainage, respiratory infections and more. Families also come for wellness visits, such as annual physicals and quick, convenient sports physicals for children.

Health Express provides both primary and urgent care. Each location is a fully staffed, private medical practice with benefits many other practices don’t offer. These include:

• MDs, not just nurse practitioners and PAs
• On-site X-rays
• Orthopedic/sports medicine backgrounds
• Same-day labs
• No appointment needed
• Ease of prescriptions
• Electronic medical records
• Your own patient portal
• Referral appointments made on your behalf
• Kind, charismatic physician owners born and raised in Northeast Ohio

Affordability

With all these amenities, you might think HealthExpress is expensive, but keeping health care affordable is a big part of the mission.

“A visit to our office averages $150, compared to 10 times that at a traditional emergency room,” Dr. Ali adds. “There is no hospital administration fee, and we keep our overhead low. Plus, we don’t have an outside group of stakeholders constantly telling us to increase prices to improve the bottom line.”

Treating Patients with Respect

Because of HealthExpress’s culture of mutual respect, these physicians develop a strong rapport with patients.

“It’s easy to feel vulnerable in a doctor’s office,” Dr. Ali says. “That’s why all our doctors are kind and charismatic, rather than arrogant or distant. Patients need to feel comfortable telling us about sensitive issues—things they might not even tell a spouse or best friend. Honesty and openness are essential to good health care, so we never judge.”



And thanks to websites like WebMD and AI systems like ChatGPT, patients today have access to a lot of information. “Most patients who visit us have already researched their symptoms, and we listen,” Dr. Ali says. “We never dismiss a patient’s opinions or their questions. We would never say, ‘I’m the doctor and I know better than you do.’ We listen because the patient is often exactly right.”

HealthExpress Urgent Care and Primary Care has eight locations with more on the way: Mayfield Heights, 6092 Mayfield Rd., 440-462-4677; Shaker Heights, 20300 Chagrin Blvd., 216-400-6212; Avon Lake, 445 Avon Belden Rd., 440-368-8818; Cleveland, 3762 Pearl Rd., 216-777-2155; North Ridgeville, 34160 Center Ridge Rd., 440-363-6788; Parma, 1400 W. Pleasant Valley Rd., 440-882-6595; Middleburg Heights, 6848 Pearl Rd., 216-345-2002; and Hartville, 864 W. Maple St., 330-877-6613.